SSEPO — South Skyline Emergency Preparedness Organization Donate

Medical & First Aid

The South Skyline area has two unique medical needs. First, given our distance from hospitals, residents need sufficient first aid skills to handle immediate situations until professional help arrives — which can take up to 45 minutes. Second, in a large-scale disaster, first responders will be overwhelmed, and we depend on neighborhoods to help themselves during the first hours and potentially days.

SSEPO addresses both through first aid training and strategically placed caches of medical supplies. Our Medical Director is Dr. Rich Lee, a long-time South Skyline resident who has assisted in numerous mountain medical rescues.

First Aid Training

  • SSEPO regularly conducts first aid training sessions. Check the SSEPO home page for upcoming sessions.
  • Stop the Bleed — Free online course on controlling severe bleeding. This is critical in the mountains where you cannot wait for 911.

First Aid Supplies

Our medical training sessions cover a range of scenarios mountain residents should be preparing for. Given our distance from hospitals, a well-stocked first aid kit can make a critical difference. You should have a first aid kit in your residence, and, as part of a trunk kit in every vehicle.

Trunk Kit

A trunk kit is a bag you put in your car containing a first aid kit and various tools and supplies that are useful if you encounter a traffic accident or other roadside emergency. This video shows the contents of a trunk kit. Typical supplies include:

First Aid Kit with Trauma Wound Care Supplies

With long 911 arrival times it’s easy to bleed to death from a wound up here unless bleeding can be stopped. Accordingly, a first aid kit needs to contain the appropriate trauma supplies, which not all do.

Medical Caches

SSEPO maintains three caches of medical supplies in the South Skyline area. During a major emergency, medically trained people are asked to report to one of these stations after ensuring their own family and neighborhood are safe. We conduct regular drills to practice activating and using these supplies.

  1. MROSD Skyline Field Office — Located at Skyline and Page Mill/Alpine Rd. Inventoried and activatable by CalFire/La Honda Fire.
  2. Las Cumbres Community Center — Fixed cache.
  3. Mobile Medical Trailer — Dr. Lee has converted a former Red Cross trailer into a highly mobile unit with extensive communication and medical facilities. Overview | Introduction video | Tour video

At least partially inspired by our work, Chief Ari Delay at the La Honda Fire Brigade has created the next generation of these caches, which are called Advanced Resource Centers or “ARCs”. Each ARC is a storage container containing medical, radio and other emergency supplies as well as backup power and always-on internet access. These are managed by the fire department, and are deployed in Kings Mountain, Pescadero, Loma Mar and Middleton Tract. Besides hosting supplies, they simplify fast deployment of CERT resources and related community activities. This is a brilliant and state-of-the art contribution to our collective emergency preparedness. There’s an excellent summary in this Skylines article.

Volunteers Needed

If you have interest, skills, or experience in health and healthcare — professional licenses helpful but not required — we want to hear from you. Some of our best contributors have been accountants, software engineers, and construction workers. Contact Dr. Rich Lee with subject line “South Skyline Health/Medical.”

Another volunteer channel is via the San Mateo County Medical Reserve Corps . This organization registers medical professionals who can volunteer in an emergency. SSEPO partners closely with MRC, their focus being a little more on the urban locations where there are medical centers who can host their volunteers, whereas SSEPO is more focused on events within our dispersed mountain communities.